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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26000353">Wait</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarDrifter759/pseuds/StarDrifter759'>StarDrifter759</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003) - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Anakin Skywalker Needs a Hug, Ani and Obi actually talk, Background Padme Amidala/Anakin Skywalker - Freeform, Fix-It of Sorts, Gen, Implied Rush Clovis/Padme Amidala, Inspired By Tumblr, Master &amp; Padawan Relationship(s), Obi-Wan just wants to help, Pre-Obikin, Star Wars: The Clone Wars S6E6 The Rise of Clovis, The Team - Freeform</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 03:29:02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,488</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26000353</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarDrifter759/pseuds/StarDrifter759</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>What if the boys actually talked when Obi-Wan came to Anakin during <i>The Rise of Clovis</i>?</p>
<hr/>
<hr/>
<p>Inspired by <a href="http://anikenobi.tumblr.com/post/161994146603/i-feel-like-ranting-about-this-scene-and-my-poor">this post</a> by <a href="https://anikenobi.tumblr.com">anikenobi</a> on Tumblr.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Obi-Wan Kenobi &amp; Anakin Skywalker | Darth Vader</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>59</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Wait</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>As said in the summary, this work was inspired by <a href="https://anikenobi.tumblr.com">anikenobi</a>'s thoughts on the scene in S6:E6 of <i>The Clone Wars</i> Animated Series where Obi-Wan tries to talk to Anakin about what's bothering him (Clovis and Padme) and our boys' inability to communicate with each other is on full display. It made me sad, and gave me feels, and made me want to fix it. So I decided to write what could happen if Anakin actually got that "wait" out we see him start to say (with a raised hand) as a dejected Obi-Wan is leaving.  </p>
<p>This is cross-posted on my <a href="http://stardrifter.tumblr.com">Tumblr</a>. </p>
<p>I may or may not expand this at a later date. We'll see. <br/>Either way, enjoy.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Wait,” Anakin croaked. Surprised by the sound leaving his lips.</p>
<p>Obi-Wan paused, his body still angled toward the door, looking over his shoulder to the floor at Anakin’s feet, waiting to hear what is old Padawan had to say.</p>
<p>Anakin licked dry lips and swallowed hard. He could remember a time when he trusted Obi-Wan with anything, with everything. A time when he was the easiest person in the <em>galaxy</em> to talk to. When had that changed? He loved Obi-Wan, his best friend, his brother, almost an extension of himself – they were two sides of the same coin, he and his old Master. So how… <em>why</em> was opening his mouth and talking to him so hard? When had the very notion become so damn daunting it felt like an impossibility?</p>
<p>Anakin’s mouth moved, but no sound could be heard. He faltered, wanting the comfort his dearest friend always offered so freely, but not knowing how to reach out and take it.</p>
<p>Obi-Wan felt the muscles in his shoulder tensing, fighting the instinct to curl as Anakin floundered behind him.</p>
<p>The younger man had stopped letting Obi-Wan take care of him when he was fourteen. Not that that had stopped him from trying, of course. It hurt to watch Anakin suffer, alone in an isolation of his own creation. Hurt more for the fact that Obi-Wan knew it to be an instinct Anakin had never managed to control. The Hutts, freedmen, bounty hunters, and even (perhaps especially) other slaves had taught Anakin to trust no one but himself; to keep others at a distance. And Obi-Wan, so young at the time of his knighting, hadn’t had a clue how to help the traumatized youngling he suddenly found himself responsible for. He’d thought that perhaps, Chancellor Palpatine would be a good mentor. Older, responsible, from a planet with a long history of humanitarian beliefs, and – like Anakin himself - part of the galaxy outside the Order. The young Obi-Wan had hoped that such a connection would stabilize his young Padawan.</p>
<p>Of course, the older Obi-Wan rather strongly wished he’d taken more of the burden on himself. That he had studied psychology in children – particularly from abusive environments and the unhealthy ways such children often bonded to those around them, caregivers in particular – sooner. He no longer believed the Chancellor to have been such a good mentor, was aware that it was some influence from the man that had compromised Anakin’s faith in the Order.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, it was much too late for any of that now.</p>
<p>Anakin was hurting, again, and again, he didn’t trust Obi-Wan enough to let him help.</p>
<p>The Jedi Master turned back toward the door as Anakin’s continued silence weighed between them, his heart heavy with familiar sorrow.</p>
<p>“I – she – we’re…”</p>
<p>Frustrated at his apparent inability to self-disclose – or even <em>form sentences</em> - and hurting for the pain he’d caused Obi-Wan – again - Anakin grunted and turned back to his worktable. This at least was something he could do.</p>
<p>At his worktable, Anakin would never fail like he failed his mother – when he didn’t return, when he couldn’t save her. Like he failed his old Master every time he betrayed Obi-Wan’s teachings. Like he failed his Padawan. Like he continually failed his men.</p>
<p>Like he was failing his wife.</p>
<p>Anakin turned his face away, struggling against the surge of conflicting emotions. Unbidden, the words he’d refused to acknowledge since Clovis first impeded upon his marriage, bubbled over.</p>
<p>“She lied.” A breath, barely a whisper. Tremulous and disbelieving.</p>
<p>Graceful as a nexu, Obi-Wan pivoted slowly on the balls of his feet, observing Anakin’s anguish in profile. He barely dared breathe, lest his old Padawan spook at the sound and retreat again behind his denials.</p>
<p>“She said she didn’t mean to make me doubt, that he meant nothing, but… in the Force, I could feel…” He bit his lip, cutting off the words that were stabbing at his heart even as he spoke them.</p>
<p>Tentatively, Obi-Wan approached the younger man. When he didn’t move away or otherwise respond, he reached out to grasp a strong shoulder. Once upon a time, Anakin would never have been satisfied with such a simple touch, would have taken the gesture as the invitation it admittedly was and turned into Obi-Wan to embrace the older Jedi.</p>
<p>Anakin didn’t follow through the gesture as he once had – but he didn’t reject it either.</p>
<p>Obi-Wan debated how best to take advantage of this opportunity. There were signs – however tentative - that perhaps his friend would be open to considering the possibility of sharing his burden. However, it was more probable that sometime <em>very</em> soon the blonde would firmly boot his old Master out and rebuild his defensives with frightening speed.</p>
<p>He wouldn’t seek clarification – he hadn’t yet, wasn’t going to start now.</p>
<p>He wouldn’t remind the young Knight of his responsibilities – which would only lead to a defensive outburst.</p>
<p>Instead, Obi-Wan took the lead where he’d previously followed. Pulling gently on the shoulder beneath his hand, drawing his dearest friend in, to wrap him in an embrace.</p>
<p>Anakin’s breath hitched and then stopped altogether, his body stiff, before he collapsed into welcoming arms. Touched and overwhelmed, the young Knight clutched at the familiar warmth, burying his face in the nape of the Master’s neck.</p>
<p>Obi-Wan felt the strong body in his arms shudder with repressed tears and uneven breaths. Keeping one arm firmly wrapped around Anakin, he raised the other to clasp the back of his neck. A gesture he’d long ago learned helped ground the younger man in the here and now.</p>
<p>“I know it’s hard, dear one.” He murmured into messy blonde curls that, if he was perfectly honest, could use a wash. “Everything will work out in the end. I promise.”</p>
<p>“Yes, Master.” Anakin chocked out, remembering all those years ago when a younger Obi-Wan, not yet Knighted, made a promise that had seemed equally impossible to a young displaced slave boy.</p>
<p>
  <em>‘What will happen to me now?’</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>‘… You will be a Jedi. I promise.’  </em>
</p>
<hr/>
<p>“Come in, come in.”</p>
<p>Obi-Wan followed Yoda into his meditation chambers, folding easily into lotus on the proffered seat while the Grandmaster clambered onto his.</p>
<p>“Spoke to young Skywalker, you did.”</p>
<p>“Yes, Master.” This would be a game of balance. Answering honestly without implicating Anakin beyond what the diminutive Master already knew – he <em>had</em> been in the hanger on Geonosis with Obi-Wan when Padmé raced past and engaged Anakin in a passionate embrace.</p>
<p>“As you are aware, Senator Amidala and Rush Clovis have a romantic history. Anakin believes that her feelings in this matter are not resolved.”</p>
<p>“Hmmm,” the Grandmaster hummed, his ears drooping as he thought. “Present he was, when first helped us discover the truth of Clovis, Senator Amidala did.”</p>
<p>“Indeed. And he was the one to rescue her after she was arrested by the Muun’s.”</p>
<p>“Believe, he does not, that changed for the better, Rush Clovis has.”</p>
<p>“No Master. He believes that Clovis is taking advantage of unresolved feelings on the Senator’s part to manipulate the situation to his benefit.” Anakin hadn’t <em>said</em> that, but he hadn’t needed to, either.   </p>
<p>“Believe this as well, you do?”</p>
<p>Obi-Wan breathed deep, sorting his thoughts one last time before answering. He had meditated on the situation after leaving Anakin’s quarters. In the Force it had felt… contrived. But he couldn’t place the person or persons involved, specifically. It was indeed fertile ground for rife manipulation, but there were simply too many moving pieces for him to know anything else for sure.</p>
<p>Except for one thing: He wanted his Padawan nowhere near this mess. </p>
<p>Which would not be simple. Anakin would not take being asked to sit out with grace. Not when Senator Amidala and a romantic rival for her affections were involved.</p>
<p>“Yes, Master. I do. There are many unresolved emotions, and unknown objectives entwining. I… would like to request that Anakin not be chosen for any future missions that may result from this affair.”</p>
<p>“Believe as well, you do, that clouded in this, young Skywalker’s judgement is?”</p>
<p>“I have complete faith in Anakin. He has never failed me. But I do believe he may be too close to the situation to see all the threads at work.”</p>
<p>“Contrived, you feel this situation to be?”</p>
<p>“Yes Master.”</p>
<p>Yoda looked up at him with mischievous eyes. “Take your Padawan’s place, you wish, Master Kenobi?”</p>
<p>“Yes, Master. There is more to this than there appears, and Anakin has never had much patience for politics.”</p>
<p>Yoda cackled good-naturedly at the dig, and agreed to assign Obi-Wan in Anakin’s place – personal requests from the Chancellor, be damned – should a mission arise from this affair.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Any guilt or trepidation Obi-Wan may have felt at stepping in where his Padawan clearly didn’t want him involved, vanished a few hours later when the Master held a quietly distraught Anakin, who only managed two words the entire night: “it’s over.”</p>
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